Rant 259 / Je Pense Donc Je Suis

Thomas Covenant, the first anti-hero I've read about. Why anti-hero? Because in spite of the victories that each book ends with, the good side is actually losing and Thomas Covenant is the cause of it. He doesn't do anything heroic to save anyone. No! Everything good that he had ever done in the first two books were for selfish reasons.

That's why he's an anti-hero, not a villain. He's on the good side, no doubt about it. But all he wants is to get everything over and done with, then GTFO! It is never his intentions to destroy everything, but he knows that whatever he does, he will just be doing exactly what the Lord Foul wants. So why bother?

The only reason he actually does anything is because he can't be released back to his world until the reason he was summoned for ceases to exist or his summoner dies. So each time he would go along and try to get everything finished, one way or another.

The worst thing was that in each book he managed to do something that helped someone greatly. However, he never did any of those things to actually help that person! All he wanted was so save himself but everyone mistook his deeds for something entirely different.

And I find his reasoning very valid. Sad but valid.








Even though the TV series 24 seems to be getting less popular these days, it is actually getting better. Season 3 was actually better than Season 1 and 2. Season 6 is better than all the others. The only reason it doesn't seem so to others may be because of the many recurring plot devices. They keep using the same stuff over and over again. Lots of people must die, then the mastermind is not actually the top mastermind. And someone in the government must betray the people they work with.








Here's a wallpaper dump. Again. But I'm not dumping the one I'm using now.












Does essence precede existence? Or does existence precede essence?

This is a millenia-old questions that is still highly debatable today. How I interpret the question is:

Do we exist, therefore we have a reason to exist? Or is there a reason for us to exist, therefore we exist?

All you religious people should agree that essence precedes your existence, because that's most likely part of your religion.

This is actually the commonly accepted idea until the 19th century when modern philosphers like Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that existence precedes essence. We do not exist for a given reason, but we can have a reason for our existence. Because of him, we have existentialism and nihilism.

It is possible to write an entire book on this topic, but I'm no philosopher of that caliber.

As an atheist, I cannot accept that we have a reason which causes our existence. We exist for no reason, but we create a reason for ourselves in order to survive. Yes, our evolution is just a series of many accidents that went well, kind of like "Oh shit, that gene mutated! Hey, it works! Oh well..."

The thing about our Universe is, it can accomodate anything you do. No matter how hard you punch it, it will not shatter. Therefore, your actions are not limited. Therefore, any reason is possible for your existence.

Unless you believe that your life is predetermined. Then there's really nothing much to talk about, is there? Nothing would matter because anything you do would lead you to the same end.










So I finally managed to play the whole No Mercy campaign of Left4Dead (not all at one shot). Never knew that the final round had THREE Tanks! Not that all 3 spawn spontaneously, but still, 3 Tanks is tough. Of course, the 3rd Tank arrives only when the rescue chopper is here, so it can be avoided by sprinting like mad to the helicopter.

So now I know the general story of this campaign. Four survivors in this city had been living in a temporary shelter up on a certain rooftop when a helicopter flew past them blasting a message that tells any survivors that could hear it to go to Mercy Hospital and call for rescue. So they journeyed all the way to the hospital where they found a radio at the rooftop and they used it to call for help. The rescue helicopter came and they were saved.

Haven't completed the other 3 campaigns yet, will find out later.

So according to Wikipedia, L4D actually has an AI just to create the atmosphere and an extra AI for a DJ. The first AI, dubbed "the Director", sets the spawn points of all the non-human-controlled zombies and items and quantities in order to create the best (and most exciting) scenarios for the players. The other AI plays the suitable track each time the situation changes and each player has his own AI DJ, so each hears his own mix according to his status and environment.

So freaking cool! It's like it's a horror movie for the Spectators! And 4 campaigns = 4 movies, starring the players themselves!

This is the only game in years that actually deserves the hype it's been getting from the start!

I shudder to think what they'd plan for a sequel, because I bet no sequel can ever be meet the expectations we all will be having.